The Petra Zone

Anyone who has heard these two CDs know part of what makes them unique to other Petra CDs are their very long guitar solos (which I completely love).

Many of these solos are done in harmony. My question is, is Bob playing both lead guitar solos himself (and mixed together for the CD) or do Bob and Greg play them together in unison?

My instincts tell me they are played by both Bob and Greg. Is this correct?

Greg could play guitar; whether he did so on the album or not I don't know. Many times they'll use studio musicians on albums. It didn't happen to say in the credits? I'm curious now to; I'll have to look at who all played on the album.

Shell wrote:Greg could play guitar; whether he did so on the album or not I don't know. Many times they'll use studio musicians on albums. It didn't happen to say in the credits? I'm curious now to; I'll have to look at who all played on the album.

My understanding is that Greg never played guitar on the records. He sang only on CAJU. He did play live occasionally. He woar it more than he played it. I remember Bob, Greg and Mark coming out to the front of the stage, lining up side by side, move the guitars up and down, hold them up in the air for the crescendo, etc. It was a 70's thing. He was a better singer than guitar player.

It seems like the two Greg's are getting mixed up here...

Greg Hough played guitar and sang on PETRA and COME AND JOIN US. Petra was at that time a live-band with two lead-guitarist, who both shared the lead vocals. I guess both Bob Hartman and Greg Hough played some guitar on the first two albums.

Greg X. Volz sang on COME AND JOIN US, and of course a couple of albums more after that. He did not play guitar on COME AND JOIN US. He was flown in from Springfield, MO (where he lived at that time) to the studio where Petra was recording (can't remember where that was) and was gone the next day. After that Greg X. Volz sometimes played drums with the live Petra and when they started touring for NEVER SAY DIE in spring 1982 they first had a drummer called Jeff Boggs, before Louie Weaver entered the scene during the famous Servant/Petra tour which afterwards had become a Petra/Servant tour. In the years after Greg X. Volz would occasionally play live rhythm guitar, as he did on a few songs of the CITAS recording.

That makes sense. But does anyone know if Bob and Greg (Hough) played separate harmony parts on the CD and during concerts?

P-Freak, you raise an interesting point regarding lead vocals during Greg Hough's tenure. Another question would be does anyone know which songs Bob sings and which songs Greg (Hough) sings?

The CD covers are not very informative, although CAJU credits Volz with lead vocals on God Gave Rock n Roll To You and Woman Don't You Know.

I haven't heard much live-recordings from the 70s Petra, so I couldn't tell how they played live, but Greg H. and Bob both played guitar live, so probably they did the harmony parts also live. As for the recordings, I guess they had their own guitar-parts and both would play the double leads in the studio, but I really wouldn't know for sure.

About who sings what song, I always thought that was pretty easy to hear. Here are tracklists of both albums, with the name of the lead vocalist behind the track time.

PETRA
01 Walkin' in the light 3:17 Bob Hartman
02 Mountains and valleys 2:49 Bob Hartman
03 Lucas McGraw 3:24 Bob Hartman
04 Wake up 3:41 Greg Hough
05 Backslidin' blues 4:31 Bob Hartman
06 Get back to the bible 2:21 Bob Hartman
07 Gonna fly away 4:55 Bob Hartman
08 I'm not ashamed 3:03 Greg Hough
09 Storm comin' 4:31 Bob Hartman
10 Parting thought 1:30 Bob Hartman

COME AND JOIN US (vinyl release tracklist)
Side 1
01 God gave rock and roll to you 5:37 Greg X. Volz
02 Holy Ghost power 2:27 this doesn't really have a lead vocalist
03 Woman don't you know 3:41 Greg X. Volz
04 Sally 4:26 Greg Hough
05 Come and join us 4:39 Bob Hartman
Side 2
01 Where can I go 3:52 Bob Hartman
02 Without You 4:27 Greg Hough *
03 Ask Him in 3:31 Bob Hartman
04 God gave rock and roll to you (reprise) 2:50 Greg X. Volz

* This song was retitled Without You I would surely die on the CD-release to prevent it from being confused with the song from Washes whiter than: (Couldn't find love) Without You.

Brent, you said that "you remember" seeing Bob hartman coming out of the stage BLABLABLA, where you there in 1977? hehehehe.

David, so your "instincts" made you think Bob and Greg made the solos. I didn`t know you were a hound or a detective (LOLOL J/K)

Well, you could say it's a hunch. It would make sense in order for them to play those songs live.

Thanks, P-Freak. I guess since Bob rarely sings at all anymore I just indirectly thought that was always the case without really knowing for sure. That really helps!!

My first tour to see them play was More Power To Ya', Brady Theater, Tulsa, OK. I got backstage for the load-in, and then had fourth row and center seats for the show.

The next year, I saw the Not of This World tour, same venue, samthing. This tour they had bigger lights and sound. The staging and lights came from ELO. That's what I was told by the monitor engineer. The PA came from the REZ band's tour.

I saw pretty much every tour that Petra had done through This Means War. On This Means War, our band opened for them, same venue, as well as Geoff Moore and the Distance.

The next show I caught was in 98, Union PAC, Tulsa. I was on the sound/tech crew for that one.

After that, I didn't really care to see more. The glory days for me were over. Don't get me wrong, I love the new stuff, but I just remember those old days. There has been, nor will there ever be anything as electric, exciting and groundbraking as those first few years.

I don't know for sure how it was back in the 1970s, but I would imagine it was like he reunion show earlier this year. At that concert, Bob and Greg Hough played separate guitar parts. Bob usually had the lead, but Greg played the lead on several songs. He was an excellent player and really jammed. It was fun watching him and Bob rock together.

(read more about it in my review)


--Josh

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWWWWWW how amazing you got to see all that!!!! sigh, if you could have recorded you could be rich by now (for all the copies you would had sell hehehe).

so all the staging and light came from ME? LOLOL!!!!!!!!!!! ( I know I know Electric Light Orchestra) though is nice to see my short version of my name hehehehe.

Hey everybody - guess what??? I received a personal email from John DeGroff!! I could hardly believe my eyes. It speaks volumes about the sincerity of the band when it's members - both past and present - take the time to respond like this.

Well, for those of you who may be wondering about John's answer, he says the harmony parts were played by BOTH Bob Hartman and Greg Hough, with Greg mostly playing the higher parts of the harmonies and Bob playing the lower parts. He also commented that while Bob was a little more precise, Greg usually did the "fast and furious" licks.

Isn't that cool? It fascinates me to learn about all this history stuff.

I know how you feel, I got so excited when Trent Thomason answered me too when I was praying for meeting petra ya know and i asked him about his testimony (how he pray for being part of petra) and he got very encouraging,

i have a copy of Glover Hough and Dan's rock-praise CD. bill glover sent it to me a while ago after they had finished recording it. the band has since changed a couple of times (john degroff is the current bass player - im not sure what they call themselves now) but i'll tell you this - greg hough plays blistering guitar.

its not a rock album from the 90s, its old school. but greg is impressive and i cant help but wonder what the band would be like today had he not left. he is an AWESOME guitar player. very bluesy, very precise, very catchy;)

hopefully he'll let me interview him sometime. he's the only one left (well, apart from bob hartman) to talk to. id love his insights and take on the early days with petra.